Here is a game I played at the Waukesha Club on Wednesday.
I didn’t want to allow the position to become completely closed with no tension so I came up with the dubious idea of 11…Nh5 which would allow me to get 12…e5 in, but I completely missed the 13.Nc4 idea.
After that I am probably strategically lost. I have a lot of work to do analyzing this game completely yet, but the ending was just bad for me since my rooks were passively stuck behind my pawns.
I also thought that Ivan’s idea with 30.b4 was really good. My guess is that it might not be the most precise move according to an engine, but that from a practical sense it’s great since it allows him to open up a second theater of operations (principle of two weaknesses) and break through.
All in all a very instructive game, although now my work is cut out for me to salvage my tournament there with three rounds to go.
Til Next Time,
Chris Wainscott
I think when you first enter the Rook and Pawn endgame, it can’t be too bad for you.
Rook and Pawn endgames are notoriously drawish. You can often draw down a Pawn and sometimes even 2 Pawns.